> I have a vague theory that as the amount of wealth inequality in increases in a system along with excess money printing (lending, hypothecation, etc where the wealthy are permitted privileged leverage and risk), the more detached markets become from reality in general.

Except that the Gilded Age, which had some of the highest levels of wealth concentration and inequality, was during the period of the Gold Standard where money could not be 'printed excessively'. And this was true not just in the US but most of the major countries in the world.

Further, while wealth inequality has risen in the US under the non-gold fiat system (to levels similar to the Gilded Age), other countries do not have as much wealth inequality even though they are also non-gold fiat.

You are right - it's about the inequality of holding the money, not the rate at which it's printed. Money printing is relevant to the extent it mostly flows towards the already rich. If money was printed and distributed to everyone evenly it would have the opposite effect.

That can easily be explained away in that the wealth concentration was a symptom of vertically integrated hard network based implementations (railroads, logistics, shipping, extraction), and the Gold Standard may have braked some level of wealth inequality acceleration and centralization to a degree, but that the trusts and business structuring were the cause moreso than any inherent tendency toward gold as basis to full fiat.

That explains why we're seeing what we're seeing now. It's all about network monetization.